Planning and Zoning

Mission StatementThe mission of the St. Charles Parish Planning and Zoning Department is to balance the public interest
with individual needs to create a quality living and working environment
through effective land use and management.

About
The St. Charles Parish Department of Planning and Zoning has the responsibility to regulate present
and future land issues in the parish as sanctioned by the parish charter.

Planning, as defined by the American Planning Association, is "furthering the welfare of people and their communities by creating convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient and attractive environments for present and future generations."

But planning is also the decision-making process of establishing goals and objectives, analyzing existing resources and conditions, developing strategies, and enacting controls to ensure that the goals and objectives as they relate to cities and communities are met.

In other words, a consensus is reached for how the community is to grow and to what extent this growth is to be managed through the regulation of land use with the goal of ensuring a certain pattern of development.
As in the case for a majority of communities, St. Charles Parish accomplishes the regulation of effective land use management through zoning, as stipulated by the Parish Zoning Ordinance.

Zoning is the regulatory tool that classifies land uses by type and intensity within which permitted and special uses are established, as are regulations governing lot size, building setbacks and other development standards.
It is through zoning that more intensive land uses are separated from less intensive land uses. The goal of zoning regulations is to achieve compatibility among land uses by grouping like issues together.

But the overriding goal of managing the land uses through zoning regulation is ensuring that the high quality of living and working in this Parish of Plenty is preserved.